13 years is a long time to stay in one place working towards one goal. It is safe to say some of those 13 years are better than others.
- Third Grade – This could be peak life. You are just old enough to be experiencing all the joys of elementary school and just young enough to still find schoolwork easy. No homework, no real grades and not a single care in the world.
- Kindergarten – I am not even sure kindergarteners are old enough to be conscious, but I guess ignorance is bliss. Kindergarten is such an unserious time, one where you can play with toys in the sand without leaving the classroom and one where you can make a new best friend in less than a day.
- Senior Year – Once you get past the college application period, you are free to not care about anything at all. The biggest focus of senior year is soaking up all the marquee high school experiences while you still can. Only senioritis stands in the way of senior year being one of the best.
- Fifth Grade – At this point, you feel like you are on top of the world. After all these years cowering in the shadows of the top dogs at elementary school, you are finally one of them. If it were not for the fact that you have to start trying a little harder in class, fifth grade could be perfect.
- Second Grade – Second grade feels like a filler episode in the grand scheme of things. I do not think anything interesting has ever happened to a second-grader. At this point school is still easy, recess arguably hits its peak and nothing is really making an effort to ruin the fun. Everyone is content where they are at.
- Eighth Grade – The final year of school before grades start to mean something. Eighth graders, among themselves, all agree that they are probably the coolest and most influential people on the planet. Who is to say they are wrong?
- First Grade – First Grade has to go down as the least relevant year in all of education. Good or bad, I feel like nothing happened. At this point, the ABCs and numbers 1-10 are old news, but students are not exactly ready to move on to whatever comes after that.
- Sophomore Year – Sophomore year is everyone’s flop year. It is one you look back on and start cringing. Sophomores are too experienced at the high school level to be pleasantly naive, and not experienced enough to be remarkable in any other way. They spend the whole year just waiting to be juniors.
- Fourth Grade – Fourth Grade is about the time when we all started to realize that school actually meant learning. The sharp transition from the third grade to fourth-grade classroom was one that saw decorations leave the walls and one that bitterly disappointed.
- Seventh Grade – Seventh Grade is NOT it. It is a year that is dedicated to fueling the embarrassment of one’s future self. I do not think anyone has ever seen a photo of themself from this awful time period and felt pride. Seventh grade’s only saving grace is that it heralds school activities.
- Junior Year – Junior year is often regarded as the most rigorous and arguably worst year of the educational experience. These statements are mostly produced by juniors who want an excuse to fail a few tests here and there. It is not a fun year, but there are worse. With that being said, state testing does not do it any favors.
- Freshman Year – Every high school freshman is confused. Unfortunately for the rest of us, they almost always mask their confusion by becoming generally intolerable in public settings. Proud to finally be in high school, freshmen love to embarrass themselves and bask in the attention they think they are earning in a positive light.
- Sixth Grade – Sixth grade is undeniably the worst year in the K-12 educational progression. Not only are sixth graders dazed and lost, but they also have nothing to do to distract from that sad natural state. No school activities, no clue in the world, no friends, and nowhere to hide.
